English Dub Review: Mobile Suit Gundam the Origin: Advent of the Red Comet “One Year War”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Char Aznable never misses a trick. And the weird-masked man proves as much when he boards a powered-down Federation ship. What was meant to be a typical forced surrender turned into so much more. This particular Federation ship had some precious cargo aboard—the recently liberated Admiral Johann Revil. Never one to bow down and grovel, Char recognized Kycillia’s pre-planned “political theater” and allowed the Admiral and his crew to travel through Zeon airspace, unharmed. He figured, sometimes it’s better to blow shit up without having to actually blow shit up.

With peace talks close at hand, the media gets ahead of itself and plasters the details of the Antarctic treaties on every newspaper, internet site, and telephone pole with reckless abandon. As far as the common folks among the two factions, the end of their conflict was cause for celebration. But as more and more people gather, get excited about the peace talks, and start to live normal lives again, the worse the tension grows.

Meanwhile, Amuro is still trying to figure out his father’s work and the secret meaning of “Gundam.” No longer distracted by bullies or pretty girls, he lies and cheats his way into his town’s military base demanding to know all his dad’s secrets. Fearing a breach, they hold Amuro at the base while a strike team ransacks his home. After kicking his toy ball around for a while, the soldiers uncover, and confiscate all the doctor’s Gundam plans that were left harum-scarum all over the walls of his home office.

In great contrast to everyone’s post-war plans, Revil arrives on Earth to give the most important speech of his life—one that will be responsible for millions of casualties. The tentative deal he made with Degwin is no longer on the table. The Federation will not surrender. He warns his people of authoritarian rule, and informs them that that’s all the Zabi family has to offer.

This revelation at the eleventh hour irritates Degwin to his core. No longer a forgiving despot, rallying for peace, the old man orders Garma to do what he’s wanted to do since the fighting began. He orders him to kill them all!

This episode and the entire origin series ends with the entire system learning that the war will wage on for the foreseeable future. Many of the people affected are children who will grow up to fight on the front lines. Many will die, but some will prosper and live eternally as legends. Amuro, broken and disillusioned with the world as he once knew it, will go on to play the ultimate role as the pilot for his father’s newly designed mobile suit. This Gundam has the power to compete with the Red Comet. And Char eagerly awaits the challenge.

 

Our Take

If you’ve ever seen the movie Animal House, you know the film ends with a series of still shots. Captioned beneath those stills are brief epilogue notes that describe what happens to the characters in the future, long after the events that take place in the movie. This is the exact same method the Mobile Suit Gundam creators used to wrap up this origin series. It came off as a little strange and anticlimactic, but it was a choice nevertheless.

I liked how the Zabis were downplayed in the finale after we’ve seen so much of them in the past few episodes. For Kycilia, a sinister smile was all she needed to show how pleased she was with herself for controlling everything from behind the scenes for so damn long. Garma and Degwin had the only real interaction, and it confirmed what we’ve been suspecting for weeks. Nobody can stop someone as hawkish as young Garma from entering the fray, no matter how badly his father wanted him to rule from the throne as opposed to the bridge.

Although she doesn’t have everything figured out just yet, it was nice to see the full circle of Artesia from helpless child to independent woman. While her story is far from over, we have a better understanding of what motivates her and which dark moments from her past she’d very much like to keep hidden.

And let’s not forget about her brother Casval/Char. What a journey he has had. He started as a pissed off but noble child and is now a ruthless nihilist. At first, it was made to look like young Casval would do whatever it took to avenge his father and take his rightful place as the ruler of Zeon. But over time, he developed an appetite for destruction. These days it seems as if he won’t rest until the entire system is destroyed and left broken and bloody in a sweltering crater. On top of that, he has a side project of disproving the existence of God. I like that he keeps himself busy.

There was no final check-in with Ramba Ral, Crowley Hamon, Lalah, or Dozle and his family. Those great characters are still out there, and they likely play considerable roles in the flagship series, but I would’ve liked to see at least a few brief scenes to wrap up their arcs for the time being. Besides this particular note, the finale delivered what I’ve come to expect from Mobile Suit Gundam and intrigued me enough to further explore the series’ rich history.